This is one example of why the â€œpay to publishâ€ model has to end. Even top journals like PlOS can justify their fee schedule all they want, but at the end, pay to publish journals simply shift the revenue stream from institutions and readers(libraries and organizations) to the actual researcher, creating an incredible conflict of interest that compromises quality.
As Peter Suber reports (http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2009/06/hoax-exposes-incompetence-or-worse-at.html), Benthamâ€™s behavior has been questioned in the past. See, for example, this thread from liblicense in April 2008.
http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/ListArchives/0804/msg00027.html
I think it is possible to set up safeguards to avoid this conflict of interest. Letâ€™s not paint all OA publishers with the same brush.
On a lighter note, $800 seems like a bargain compared to other journalsâ€™ author fees!